Chapter Five #3
Linc isn’t domineering in the same essence that Cass was, but he radiates an energy like no other.
He means every word he says. Mindy’s face lights up at Linc’s response and I realize I haven’t ever seen Mindy so happy.
She’s always been happy, in a sense, but nothing like this.
This is different. This is that glow people spoke of. Mindy has it.
“Okay, you two. I’m going to leave you alone and go get some rest. I’m exhausted.” I rise from where I was sitting on the bed.
“No,” Linc protests, shaking his head.
“What? Why not?” I ask.
“Because, I can’t let you leave here in that damn car that can be spotted from two miles away when they just nearly killed Mindy.
Cass wouldn’t only have my prospect patch, which, might I add, I’ve worked my ass off to prove I’m worthy of, but he’d have my head to hang in the clubhouse to make an example of what happens to people who don’t protect their own. ”
I huff in frustration. “I’m really getting tired of these fucktards making my life difficult.”
“You can sleep on the couch right here if you want. I won’t be getting any sleep anyway.
” Linc stands up and opens the cabinet at the end of the couch.
He reaches in and reveals a stiff hospital pillow and a thin, weird-textured blanket.
The plain white ones that are standard to damn near all hospitals.
I want to stomp my feet and throw a fit so badly, to tell Linc I’ll be fine because I have a gun in my car, but I’m too tired to argue. And too tired to drive.
I put the pillow on the end of the couch and curl up with the scratchy blanket pulled to my shoulders. Linc sits at the foot of the bed and gently rubs Mindy’s legs.
“Good night, you damn love birds.”
“Good night,” they say in unison.
Before I drift off, I open my phone and send a text to Cass.
Lilly: I’m at the hospital with Mindy. Will be here all night. Getting some sleep. Please be safe. I love you.
I don’t sleep much in Mindy’s hospital room between Linc and the nurses constantly going in and out, checking Mindy’s vitals. Finally, after the tenth time I get woken up in four hours, I sit up and decide against trying to sleep because it’s just going to keep pissing me off.
I walk quietly into the bathroom and splash some cold water on my face.
I toss my hair into a messy bun. Not a cute one, either.
Once I’m mostly put together, I venture down the hall to a waiting room.
I fill a cup of coffee halfway before pouring a ton of sugar into it then adding in multiple packets of creamer.
Coffee never has done anything for me, but I have to try something, so coffee it is.
I sit down in one of the chairs and take slow sips of the steaming liquid in my small Styrofoam cup.
I’m shocked that it’s delicious, for being hospital coffee.
I guess I’m not well-versed in coffee. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought it was midday judging by all of the people walking through the halls.
Doctors and nurses, patients and their families, everyone is going somewhere this morning.
I chance a peek at the clock that tells me it’s just after seven-thirty in the morning.
I guess the world is usually more awake than I am in the morning, and I’ve forgotten that not everyone lives for the night.
“Shit, I need to check my phone,” I mutter to myself as I stand up and head back to Mindy’s room. Even with all the people scurrying about, the hospital still makes me uncomfortable. Fucking white walled hell hole.
Mindy’s room is quiet aside from the low volume coming from the speakers on her bed.
She’s sitting up with a tray of food over her bed while Linc is now curled up on the small, stiff, and highly uncomfortable couch.
Mindy raises a finger to her lips. “Shh,” she whispers.
I close the door and slowly tiptoe until I ease onto the bed next to Mindy.
“I need my phone,” I whisper and point to the small bedside table that’s next to the couch.
“Don’t wake the sleeping bear,” she whispers back, fighting back a laugh.
Again, I tiptoe through the room, snag my phone, and tiptoe back to the other side of the bed. I unlock my phone and find nothing. No response from Cass. No phone call. Nothing. My heart sinks and I’m not sure if I’m more worried or hurt, or both.
He could be hurt. Or dead. Or sleeping. Or…
well he could fucking be anything right now and I wouldn’t know it.
I wrestle internally with the multitude of emotions swirling around inside my chest. It’s a little easier to breath, though, when I read a text from Raven saying she made it home and Micah isn’t “too upset” with her.
Being a club ol’ lady is beginning to take its toll on me.
What more will I have to go through? Why can’t I be more included, especially when this shit is so fucking personal for me?
I understand it, to an extent, but on the other hand, I’m almost to the point of tracking down the Moccasin druggies myself and putting a bullet in their heads.
I shake my head to clear the ridiculous thoughts, garnering me Mindy’s attention.
“What’s going on in that brain of yours? I can feel you thinking hard,” she whispers.
I sigh and lay back on the bed, my head resting near Mindy’s. “All this shit going on. I’m worried about Cass.”
Mindy rubs my arm compassionately, giving me a sympathetic stare.
“I’m sure he’s just fine. He didn’t get to be a club president by being a weak pussy.”
Leave it to my best friend to say something fucked up and still make me feel better.
A light bulb instantly dings in my head at the thought of a best friend. I open my phone and type out a text to Scott.
Lilly: Hey, if you’re with Cass, can you just send back some kind of response and at least let me know y’all are okay.
I press send and hold my breath. I don’t give two fucks what they’re doing, so long as they’re okay. My phone buzzes almost immediately with a text back.
Scott: Safe.
One word. That was all I needed. Confirmation that they were safe. I can now breathe easily. Now it’s time to focus on getting Mindy better and figuring out what my part in this messy war is.
I’m sleep deprived and beginning to get antsy the longer I sit cooped up in this hospital room.
While Linc catnaps and Mindy dozes off, I take the opportunity to slip out of the room unnoticed.
I’m not sure where I’m headed but I have to get out of this hospital.
Now that I know Mindy is going to be okay, there isn’t a need for me here.
She has Linc and the nurses and doctors.
Besides, the Moccasins have already kidnapped me. They wouldn’t be stupid enough to do something like that again, especially since Asher made it a point that this wasn’t how they did business. No matter what Cass said, something in me believes that Asher was genuine.
I wind my way through the sea of people in the hospital until I make it to the parking garage.
I feel like I can breathe again once I’m out of the building.
As usual, I forgot which row I parked in.
I roll my eyes at myself and begin walking through the rows of trucks and cars.
Finally at the end of the third row, I spot Betty.
I decide after I get on the road that I’m heading to the clubhouse first. Maybe some of the guys would be there by now.
Upon my arrival, I realize I was right. There are two motorcycles parked out front. One is Scott’s and the other looks like Old School’s. I walk in and find Old School sitting at the bar alone. Scott is nowhere to be found. Old School’s head whips in my direction.
“You better be careful sneaking up on us old men,” he says with a hearty laugh.
“I figured you’d look before you shot,” I counter, hugging his neck before sitting in the barstool next to him.
“What are you doing here? I thought you were a state away?” he asks.
“I’m sneaky.” I pull a cigarette from my pack, and he lights it for me.
“Thanks, old man.” I grin at him and nudge him with my elbow. He has grown on me since I’ve been spending so much time around him.
I open my phone and see a missed call from Cass. I excuse myself and hurry to my room to return his call. I’m anxious to hear about what he’s been up to. Dialing his number, I plop on the bed and kick off my shoes. It only rings twice before he answers.
“Hey, baby.”
“Hey.”
“How’s Mindy?”
“She’s good. Better than I thought she was going to be. Thanks for telling me, by the way.” The sarcasm in my voice doesn’t go unnoticed.
“I didn’t want you coming home until I took care of shit. Guess that didn’t matter though cause here you are. If something would’ve happened to you again…” he trails off and I hear him sigh before he continues.
“I’m glad you didn’t get into harm’s way.”
“Where are you?” I ask.
“At the gas station down the street from our clubhouse. I’ll be headed there soon then I’ll come to the hospital to see you.”
I scoff. “Don’t bother. I’m at the clubhouse, so I’ll see you when you get here.”
“Damn it, Lilly.” Cass huffs.
“See you soon,” I say sweetly before hanging up the phone. When he arrives, I have questions and I know he has answers. It’s time for me to be in the know of what’s going on especially because it’s a threat to me as well as the club.
Ten minutes later, I hear the door to the clubhouse slam followed by heavy footsteps climbing the stairs.
The door to my room swings open then slams shut once Cass is inside.
He looks like hell. His hair is everywhere.
His face is covered in road grime. His jeans are nearly black from whatever the hell he had gotten all over them.
My heart pangs at the sight. Above all else, though, is the scowl on his face.
He isn’t happy with me in the least. He doesn’t say a word.
He kneels and unlaces his boots, taking them off before walking slowly toward me.
The silence is eerie, and I almost wish he was yelling instead of not saying anything at all.
“Why are you so fucking hard-headed?” he asks.
“I wasn’t just going to sit in another state while my best friend was in the hospital. If you want a woman that doesn’t give a fuck about people, I suggest you go find someone else, Cass, because that isn’t me.”
“I know you give a fuck about people which is exactly why I didn’t tell you!
We didn’t know that they only went after Mindy because they thought she was Linc.
We only knew that they went after her. Having you here could’ve meant they would’ve gone after you again, and this time who’s to say we would have been lucky enough to get you back alive? ”
“I don’t give a shit about that! I wasn’t going to let her sit in a hospital in a condition that I didn’t know the severity of.
What if she was dying and only had the rest of the night last night before she was gone?
Then how would you have felt? Because I can tell you how I would’ve felt, Cass.
I would’ve lost my fucking mind and I would’ve blamed you! ”
Cass shakes his head, stands up, and slams his fist into the wall above the bed. The wall caves easily under the strength of his blow, leaving a gaping hole and an echoing thud. He shakes his head again at the damage before walking into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him.
The sound of the shower sounds and I consider getting into the shower with him, but the bed is too comfortable and I’m barely holding on to consciousness as it is.
I’ll talk to him when he comes out since our other conversation wasn’t going well.
But the longer I lay here waiting, the heavier my eyes get.
I focus on the sound of the water beating down in the shower, letting it lull me to sleep.
I finally give in to the comfort that tugs at me to drift off.
My mind, for the first time, is so tired that it’s quiet, allowing me to succumb to the long-awaited slumber calling my name.